Cherry Blossoms Don't Bloom in the Desert
by sakura182
Summary: What if Sakura and Gaara had met before the chunnin exams? Sakura had no idea what she was in for when she allowed him to touch her, feel her, and mark her.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: This will go for all of the chapters! I do not own Naruto what's so ever!

Chapter 1

The pink-haired woman walked through the market with her nine-year-old daughter in hand. Although the woman was having a little bit of trouble keeping her child from wandering, off. Her daughter was a very curious child and believed that everyone was her friend. So therefore, the woman had to keep a special eye on her daughter. As they continued there walk through the market street they met up with her daughter's little friend named Ino. "Oh mom can I please go play with Ino while you shop?" When Sakura saw her mother's face she added in "Pretty, pretty, pretty please, with sugar and a cherry on top!" Once her mother smiled she knew that she had won she jumped up with glee and ran over to catch up with Ino.

"Good Morning Saikuya-san." A young man had said to Saikuya as she was inspecting vegetables she merely nodded her head towards the man. She was not even sure if she knew the man. Once she had deemed a few vegetables worthy of her purchasing, she turned to go find Sakura. She bumped into a tall man who had a cloth covering half of his face. Saikuya had barely managed to save her freshly bought groceries. The man had dropped a scroll on the floor so being the thoughtful person that Saikuya was she went to pick it up for the man. When she bent down to grab the scroll, she noticed that the man had a little boy about the age of her daughter behind him. He was a strange looking boy that much was for sure. He had red hair with light aqua green eyes. He had heavy black bags around his eyes, Saikuya guessed from lack of sleep. However, the strangest thing about the boy was his tattoo on his forehead that meant 'Love'. The tattoo's ink look closely to that of human blood but that could not be…could it?

Saikuya yelped when the man grabbed the scroll rather roughly from her hands. "Ah, I'm sorry I guess I dazed off. Well, again I'm very sorry for bumping into you." Saikuya gave the little boy a warm smile but only got a cold glare in return. Saikuya felt a shiver go down her back when the boy looked at her but she ignored it and began to walk away. When she finally got to the park where her daughter was she did not call for her right away, because she wanted to watch her play. That was what she enjoyed most about being a mother was watching Sakura, the joy of her life, smiling and playing. She began to get lost in her daughter's actions. Sakura was a very pretty little girl she had inherited her mother's unique pink hair and her father's jade green eyes but she had gotten a slightly large forehead but Saikuya thought it just made her all the more adorable. Saikuya finally realized that it was time to get back to the house. "Sakura, it's time for us to head back home." Sakura nodded and began to follow her mother.

Saikuya noticed her daughter fiddling with her hair, which meant something, was wrong or she was nervous about asking a question. "Sakura what's wrong?"

Sakura snapped her head to look up at her mother. "Well I wanted to ask if maybe I could well…you know start going to the academy?" Sakura knew her mother did not want her to become a kouinchi because her father had died on a mission when she had only been an infant. Sakura watched as her mother stiffened and her lips began to form a thin line, signaling she was getting angry.

"Why on earth would you want to do that, Sakura?" Saikuya's voice came out very strained as she was trying to keep her temper under control.

"Well I want to be able to protect you and myself. Therefore, if anyone ever makes fun of my forehead again I will not have to hide behind Ino. Please I promise to be really careful and I'll do my very best!" Sakura also had another reason that she did not add. Her crush on Sasuke was mainly behind her reason for wanting to join. She was not sure why she liked Sasuke but all the other girls did so she should like him too right?

"I'll think about it Sakura." Once Sakura's mom said that it was the end of the discussion and that was all there was to it. When they got back to there, small apartment Saikuya began making supper.

Sakura quietly snuck away from her mother's view and into her room. Then she began to open her window and sneak out of it. Luckily, Sakura lived on the very last floor of the apartment building so she did not have to climb down the building wall. Once she was sure that the coast was clear, she began to run towards the park. Sakura ran to the spot where Ino was supposed to meet her but she did not see Ino. 'Figures she wouldn't come. Great so now I'm gonna get in trouble for no reason!' Sakura was suppose to meet up with Ino so they could discuss how to convince Sakura's mother that it was alright for her to join the academy.

Sighing Sakura was ready turning around to make her way back home when a voice stopped her. "Look what we have here it's Sakura and her big forehead." A few girls around Sakura's age were standing behind her with smirks etched on each of their faces. "Leave me alone." Sakura knew they would not let her leave until they got in a few jokes so she would just endure it. "Oh my gosh is somebody shining the sunlight into my eyes with a mirror? What is that? Oh my gosh it's coming off of your huge forehead, Sakura-chan!" The girl that was supposedly the leader of the group spat out the 'chan' with sarcasm. She was standing there pointing a Sakura with a smile on her face as the other girls laughed at the joke. Sakura thought the joke was lame so she began to walk off. 'Just do what mom and Ino said…ignore them and they'll go away.'

"Hey wait forehead girl we're not done playing with you." The girl picked up a rock and threw it at Sakura's face. Sakura was in shock that the girl was actually trying to harm her. They had never tried to hit her before. Before the rock could damage Sakura's face a wave of sand blocked the rock. All of the girls including Sakura turned their faces to the newcomer. The person was the same boy that Sakura's mother had seen earlier that day. He stood there for a while and stared at the girls who had been picking on Sakura. Finally after a long pregnant silence he spoke.

"I'd leave if I were you." The boy began to walk towards Sakura. Upon reaching her, he looked her over from head to toe. Then he turned back to the girls and was in front of Sakura, shielding her from the other girls view. "Oh really, and what if we don't?" The girl crossed her arms defiantly as and raised her eyebrow as if to challenge the boy.

"I'll kill every last one of you." The boy began to let sand out of the huge gourd strapped to his back. Sakura gasped at his words and by the way, he said it and the look on the other girl's faces she knew that the boy was not kidding.

"L-let's get out of here!" The girls ran away screaming things like 'monster', 'demon', and Sakura's personal favorite 'I want my mommy'. Sakura watched as the boy's sand went back to its original place in the gourd. Sakura was scared of this boy he had a creepy essence to him. She wanted to run but was afraid that he would chase her down. Therefore, she decided to thank him for saving her. "Um, uh, thank you for saving me from those girls. They've never actually tried to physically hurt me they usually make fun of my forehead and leave." Sakura began to look at her feet.

The boy turned around to face her. He was not sure why he had helped her; no one had ever helped him. He should just kill her but she was too intriguing to kill. She smelled of jasmine and lavender and it seemed to attract him. The demon inside of him was beginning to stir. For once in his life, he did not want to kill this person standing before him. He knew if he stayed, he would either kill or harm her so he began to walk away from the girl. However, he turned once more "What's your name?"

Sakura's head jerked up towards the boy when she had realized that he was speaking to her. "It's H-Haruno, Sakura and what's your name?"

"Hn, its Gaara."

Once Sakura was sure that Gaara was gone, she dashed back to her house, running for her life. The boy had truly given her fright. True, he had never actually done anything in front of her to prove that he was dangerous but Sakura was frightened for an unknown reason. She did not stop running until she came up to the apartment that her and her mother lived in. She began to sneak in through her window. Unfortunately, she found that the window was locked giving her no other choice but to go in through the front door, she only prayed that her mother had not noticed her being gone. If her mother had not looked for her than she could say, she had been playing outside the apartment. She opened the front door being careful not to let it squeak. She poked her head in and looked to see if her mother was anywhere in site. Once she figured her mother was in another room she walked in and closed the door behind her.

"Where have you been? You had me worried to death!" Saikuya walked to Sakura and began to inspect her daughter for any scratches or bruises when she was satisfied she gave Sakura a hug. "Your punishment will be no dessert or spending the night at Ino's for two weeks."

Sakura did not complain about her punishment. She figured it could have been a lot worse.

"So where exactly did you go Sakura? Be sure to tell me the truth." Saikuya walked into the small kitchen and sat at the table motioning for her daughter to do the same. Sakura sat in the chair and told her mother that she had went to the park but said nothing of the girls and Gaara.

"Well honey, if you would have told me you wanted to go to the park I would have taken you there tomorrow." Saikuya's mom had gotten up from her spot and made Sakura a plate of the dinner. She set the plate in front of Sakura who had her head down.

"I know I'm really sorry mom." Sakura began to feel the beginnings of guilt build up in her stomach and suddenly was not too hungry anymore. Nonetheless, she began eating so her mother would not think something was wrong.

"Well I have thought about you joining the academy and I suppose that it would be fine for you to join. But I want you to show me everything you learn and you must work hard at becoming a fine kouinchi for Konoha is that clear?" Saikuya had her back turned away from Sakura but she could picture Sakura's delighted face and her shining jade eyes.

"Oh thank you mom! I promise I'll pay attention, take notes, listen to the teacher, follow all the rules, and will try not to come home with a detention." Sakura counted what she had said on her fingers mentally making sure she had not missed anything.

"Your welcome sweet heart, now come on it's time to get you to bed." Saikuya made sure Sakura took a bath, brushed her teeth, and got into bed.

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Gaara had finally made his way back to the hotel that he and Baki had rented out for a few days. Shukaku had been egging Gaara to go back, grab the girl, and force her to come back to Suna just to have her there with him. '_What's the point in bringing her to Suna?' _Gaara finally asked Shukaku hoping to get him to shut up.

'_**She makes you feel calm does she not?'**_

'_Hn'_

'_**She also smells nice and she didn't run away from you like all the others.'**_

'_Shut up and leave me alone Shukaku.'_

'_**I'll leave you alone if you promise me one thing.'**_

'_I know I'll regret asking this but what?'_

'_**At least give her a nice little tattoo like yours before we leave for Suna.'**_

'_Hmm, you've actually given me a good idea.'_

Gaara knew why Shukaku wanted the girl he was not stupid. The elders had always talked about Shukaku's chosen one for Gaara. Gaara did not care about that sort of thing at this point in his life; for god's sake, he was only nine-years-old.

When he walked into the room he saw bake reading a scroll. Baki of course would not say anything about Gaara being gone because even Baki was scared of what Gaara would do. "How much longer will we be in Konoha?"

Baki was surprised Gaara had said something but nonetheless he answered. "We're leaving tomorrow morn-" Baki did not finish sentence for Gaara had walked right back out the door. Shrugging his shoulders, Baki continued to read his paper.

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Sakura was sleeping peacefully and dreaming of the next day when she would start the academy. She turned over in her sleep and snorted for a moment before her breathing evened out once again. In Sakura's dream, her teacher was calling her name repeatedly. Sakura soon woke up and felt a smooth hand over her mouth. She began to struggle against the person. The person leaned over towards her ear and whispered "Open your eyes and stop struggling, Sakura." Sakura did as she was told and saw Gaara when she relaxed a little her cautiously took his hand away from her mouth. However, did not put any space between them. "You know I think your forehead is rather nice, Sakura."

Sakura only nodded and managed to mumble out a small 'thank you'. She tried to create some space between them but her back soon hit the smooth wood of her bed's headboard "Sakura why are you trying to get away, it's not because your scare of me is it? I'm not going to hurt you." Gaara brought a hand up to her forehead and began to caress the right side of her forehead and then got to a spot in the corner of her forehead and applied a small amount of pressure, which made Sakura yelp in pain. "What are you doing?"

"I'm giving you a gift before I leave." Gaara began to massage the same spot and then brought a small amount of sand and began to carve out her tattoo. When Sakura went to scream from the pain, Gaara stuck two of his fingers into her mouth blocking any sound to come from her. Gaara looked down at her terrified face. "Bite down on them if you have to. It won't hurt me I promise."

For the next hour or two Sakura was biting down on Gaara's fingers. Gaara finished off the last bit of the tattoo. Sakura finally felt the immense pain in her forehead lessen a bit and Gaara pulled his fingers away from her mouth. She felt her blood flowing down her face. Gaara wiped all of the blood away with a small cloth that he had found on Sakura's dresser.. Sakura looked up at Gaara who simply took her hand and led her to her mirror.

Sakura looked at her image in the mirror and she saw the bloody tattoo on her forehead. She brought her hand up towards her forehead but Gaara intercepted her hand with his. "Don't touch it for awhile or it will hurt even more." Sakura nodded her head.

"I will come back to Konoha for you in a few years." Gaara lightly pressed Sakura's pressure point and she fell into unconsciousness. He picked her up bridal style and laid her in her bed. Gaara looked at Sakura one last time and left the room.

When Sakura woke up the next morning, she ran to the mirror and saw that the tattoo was there. For the first time she actually looked to see what the tattoo meant and she realized it meant 'love'. She wondered how she would explain it to her mother. She decided to try to put a band-aid over it and say she just liked to wear the band-aid because she thought it looked cool.

When her mother saw her, she said nothing of Sakura's band-aid. She merely thought it was a scratch and was not too worried about it. Saikuya insisted that she walked Sakura to school even if she did not want her to. Once in front of the academy Sakura gave her mother a quick hug, kiss on the cheek, and walked into the building with the other kids. She had not seen Ino yet and was itching to tell someone about what had happened the previous night.

Once she found her classroom she walked in and the first thing her eyes landed on was Sasuke. She was about to walk straight towards him however, the teacher walked in that same moment. "Now kids I have given you assigned seats so find your name and go to the seat." The teacher was a young man with brown hair that put into a ponytail; he also had a long scar going across his nose.

Sakura groaned when she saw that her seat was across the room from Sasuke. She found her seat and saw that she was at the end of the row therefore; she would only have one person to sit beside her. Once she had all of her things situated, she heard a load plop coming from beside her. She turned her head and saw a blonde haired boy with sky blue eyes. He wore an obnoxious orange suit, which Sakura scrunched her nose up at; the boy looked back at Sakura and smiled a sloppy grin towards her. "Hi there my name is Naruto, Uzumaki and I'm gonna be Hokage one day!"

"Yea I'm sure you will be Naruto." Sakura was trying her best to ignore this annoying boy but he kept talking to her.

"Hey what's your name?" Naruto realized that she was not going to answer him so he leaned over and looked at the sticker on her desk that read 'Haruno, Sakura'. "Sakura-chan…I like that name a lot! Hey did you know that you're really pretty!"

Sakura wanted to slap this boy so badly at the current moment.

"Knock knock."

'_Ignore him Sakura just ignore him.'_

"Sakura-chan I said knock knock." Naruto scooted his desk closer to Sakura's and began to say knock, knock repeatedly.

Finally, Sakura turned towards Naruto. "Fine who's there?"

Naruto smiled. "Interrupting cow."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Interrupt-

"MOOOOOOO!!!!" Naruto yelled and began to laugh so hard that he fell out of his chair, which caused the whole class to look towards the two of them. Sakura's face turned a deep scarlet red as she did her best to hide her face.

'_Why do I have to sit by this idiot?'_

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A/N: I know what you are thinking…why did I start a new story. Well I just did but do not worry it will probably be deleted unless people actually like it. Any comments or constructive criticism would be appreciated. Please and Thank-you!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not (repeat) DO NOT own Naruto in any way.

Chapter 2

Sakura was currently looking out of the window from across the classroom while she partially listened to Iruka-sensei's lecture about how Konoha and its ally countries. He was currently talking about their newly signed peace treaty between Konoha and some other country. Sakura heard Iruka-sensie say something or other about Suna and she noted that Suna was the country that Konoha had just signed a peace treaty with them. It took Sakura a few seconds before realization hit her.

'_That's where Gaara-kun is from.'_

Sakura's hand shot straight up in the air. Iruka was surprised that someone in the class was actually paying attention to his lesson. "You have question Miss Haruno?"

Sakura realized that everyone in the class had just decided to wake up from their nap and that everyone's eyes were on her. Sakura was not used to so much attention, except for when people were teasing her. Sakura took a deep breath and asked her question. "Uh…um…well I was sort of wondering since we just signed a peace treaty with Suna if we could possibly go to…uh…well Suna for like a kind of felid trip?"

As soon as Sakura was done with her question some kids began to side with her others were groaning and complaining about having to go on a long trip.

"Ah, that is actually a very nice idea Miss Haruno. It would give you kids a chance to see another culture other than Konoha's culture. I will make sure to check with Hokage-sama and see if it would be all right. Of course you kids would have to get a consent form signed by your parents." Iruka spent the rest of the class talking about what they could do whilst in Suna. Soon the bell rang to end class and Sakura began to gather her things. As she was putting in her last book, she noticed a shadow looming over her.

She turned her head to see Sasuke. "Oh Hey Sasuke-kun, how are you today?" Sakura stood up from her desk and began putting her backpack on. She gave Sasuke a sweet smile. "Hurry up you and finish packing you two. I'll be back in a few minutes to lock up."

"Of course Iruka-sensie, we'll make sure to be gone." Sakura replied as Iruka walked out of the classroom to do whatever business it was he had to do.

Sakura once again turned towards Sasuke who was merely staring at her. "So Sasuke was there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Why have you been wearing a band-aid ever since school started a week ago? Surely, whatever wound you had gotten would have healed by now. I mean your mom would have put medicine on it right, that's what my mom does when I get hurt." Sasuke eyed her forehead as she began to raise her fingers to brush across the tan-colored object that hid her tattoo from everyone.

"Uh…I just like the way it looks kind of like my bow on top of my head." Sakura was trying to hurry the conversation along so she could get away from Sasuke's interrogation.

"Stop lying about it already Sakura." Sasuke then grabbed Sakura's arm away from the band-aid but in the process, Sakura's fingers had pulled the tattoo away from her forehead. Sasuke gasped at what he saw and Sakura began to cover the tattoo with her hand but it was too late.

Right when Sasuke had tugged at Sakura's hand causing her to pull the band-aid off in the process Iruka had walked into the room and was shocked. "S-Sakura, Sasuke I suggest both of you come with me this instant."

Sasuke walked past Sakura and began to walk out of the door. Iruka looked towards Sakura who was strangely interested in her shoes and the floor that they were standing on. Iruka walked towards her and crouched down so he was at her eye level. "It'll be okay Sakura, I promise." Sakura looked at Iruka cautiously but when he smiled to reassure her, she nodded her head. Iruka grabbed Sakura's tiny hand in his much larger one. "Well come on then I think Sasuke is waiting for us."

Once outside the classroom the three walked towards the Hokage's office. As they continued to walk and awkward silence settled in between the three of them. Sakura, of course, was the first one to break the silence. "Uh…Iruka-sensei you're not going to tell my mom about this?"

Iruka looked down at Sakura and made no words to answer her question, though he did stare at her sadly before nodding his head and saying "I'm sorry Sakura we have to tell her about it."

Sakura's stomach was doing flip-flops, which kept reminding her that she was in deep trouble. Sakura was not the kind of child that could take being in trouble very well, in fact she had really only been in trouble about five times in her nine-year-old lifetime. Nevertheless, at this very moment she found comfort in blaming a certain Uchiha on her current predicament. Though Sakura knew it was not entirely Sasuke's fault, in fact it was not his fault at all. Truthfully, it was her own fault for allowing Gaara to put the darn thing on her forehead in the first place. So thanks to Gaara, Sakura had been put through immense pain to get the tattoo in the first place and to top it all off she was know in huge trouble. However, she did not comprehend what was so bad about having the tattoo on her forehead.

'_I mean it is my forehead, whether it's big or not, and I should have the right to do whatever I want to it…right?'_

Before Sakura could think about the situation any further, Iruka had dragged her into a room. When Sakura looked up, she saw the Hokage looking right at her forehead with wide eyes but soon his face turned passive and he showed no sign of being angry which Sakura was truly thankful about.

Soon the Hokage began barking orders to all sorts of shinobi. "Iruka go and bring Sasuke home and tell Sakura's mother what has happened and that I request her presence in my office immediately." Iruka bowed and grabbed Sasuke's hand to bring him home. The Hokage smiled at Sakura trying to make her feel at ease before continuing to yell additional commands at a man that Sakura had never seen before. "Kakashi go to Suna and tell the Kazekage of this situation and that I need him or Baki to come here with Gaara so we can discuss the situation thoroughly."

Sakura watched as the man named Kakashi bowed and disappeared away in a cloud of smoke. Sakura wanted to giggle for a moment at the man who had just left. She thought he looked a little strange. He covered half of his face with a mask and then his forehead protector covered his right eye. Sakura thought he rather looked like a clown.

Finally, the office settled down and it was only Sakura and the Hokage. Though the silence left as quickly as it had came for the door had been burst open by Iruka who had a terrified looking Sasuke in his arms and a distressed looking Saikuya.

"What is going on Iruka?" Sarutobi's brow furrowed at the sight of the youngest Uchiha, who was currently trembling and saying 'aniki' repeatedly and then he began to scream.

Saikuya, who had been transfixed on her daughter's forehead, came back to reality when she heard the piercing scream from Sasuke. She grabbed him from Iruka and sat him on the floor. Meanwhile everyone else had their hands over their ears. Saikuya began to sing. She did not sing anything in particular she was just singing anything that came to mind.

Sakura tried to listen to what her mother was saying and then she realized that she was singing. Sakura cautiously took her hands away from her ears while Iruka and Sarutobi did the same. They all expected to ear Sasuke's intense screaming but instead heard a melodious song coming from Saikuya.

Iruka walked over to the Hokage and bent down to whisper in his ear. "The Uchiha family has been massacred only Sasuke was left alive."

The Hokage immediately felt heartache for letting pain come to an entire clan in his village. As Hokage he was suppose to protect everyone and the way he was seeing it he had failed to fulfill his duty as Hokage. He was afraid to ask his question but asked it nonetheless. "Do you have any idea who the culprit was?"

Iruka was silent for a few moments before finally muttering the vicious murder's name. "The culprit has been identified as Uchiha Itachi. He was also found guilty of the murder Uchiha Shisui."

The Hokage frowned deeply and sighed just as Saikuya's song ended and Sasuke immediately clung to Saikuya. She closed her eyes and began to hum quietly as she rubbed his back. Soon Sasuke fell asleep and Saikuya stopped humming and looked up towards the Hokage. "Where is this poor child going to live?"

"I suppose we will find a place for him as soon as possible but for now I think it's best if he stays in the hospital and the medic nins take a look at him to make sure no damage was done to him." Saikuya nodded. As if on cue a medic Nin came into the room and picked Sasuke up from Saikuya's hold and left the room with him. "Iruka go with the jounin and help with the investigation of the Uchiha estate and make a full report and bring it back to me. Also get a few Anbu to go after Uchiha Itachi."

Iruka quickly bowed and left the room.

"Now Mrs. Haruno we must figure this situation out concerning your daughter. First of all Sakura can you please tell us who the person was?" Sarutobi and Saikuya both looked down at the petrified Sakura.

Sakura looked up towards her mother half expecting to see disappointment in her eyes but instead she saw merely concern. "Its okay, go ahead and tell us Sakura." Sakura nodded. "It was G-Gaara who put it on my forehead."

Saikuya had no idea who her daughter was talking about and began to question whom this 'Gaara' person was. "Who is this Gaara boy that Sakura is talking about?"

Sarutobi sighed deeply. "Sakura how about you wait for your mom outside of my office?" Sakura nodded and walked out of the office and sat on a chair whilst a secretary was busy writing on some sort of document. After two seconds of just sitting in the chair, Sakura was bored, so she began to count the ceiling tiles.

Meanwhile, back inside the Hokage's office Saikuya was getting the whole life story of Sabaku no Gaara. The Hokage told her of his birth, which resulted in his mother's death. He had just finished telling her about the demon, Shukaku, which was sealed inside of the boy, just like Naruto Uzumaki. "Now you must understand that this demon inside of him is unstable causing his village to fear him. His father has ordered many assassins to eliminate him but all have failed."

Saikuya was in utter shock. She could not believe a parent would do something so cruel to his or her own child, especially when it was the parent's fault that this poor boy had the demon inside of him. "What does this boy look like?" Saikuya had been afraid to ask that question, for she had a good assumption of who he was. The Hokage motioned for Saikuya to come closer to his desk when she got there she noticed a picture of a little boy in a desert area. Once Saikuya had gotten a good, enough look the Hokage took the picture away. "I know that boy Hokage-sama, I saw him in the market about a week ago."

"Yes, Gaara was here a week ago with Baki to deliver a scroll to my office." The Hokage did not say another word as Saikuya was processing all of the information into her head. It was only a matter of time before she asked about how Sakura pertained to any of this for she had not quite realized that the tattoo on Sakura's forehead was the same as the redheaded demon container.

Saikuya stared out of the window for a few minutes until realization hit her. "Sakura got the tattoo from Gaara. He has the exact same one on the exact same spot. Hokage-sama what does all this mean for my daughter?"

Saikuya looked at the Hokage and saw a bit of pity in his eyes.

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A/N: Sorry for such a late update and this chapter being kind of short. I really don't like the way it came out but to tell the truth I did this chapter six times and this was the only one I liked. Anyhow I am so happy I got so many reviews and one the first chapter too! Please leave a review or comment. Thank-you.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I will never own Naruto!

A/N: Ok I know that I am super late at updating and I am sorry. I really do not have an excuse because I told a few of my reviewers that I would update before going on my trip and well I did not. Therefore, I am truly sorry for it! I wanted to thank all of my reviewers. I am so happy you guys enjoy my attempt at a Gaa/Saku story. However, I am raising the rating due to future chapters.

Chapter 3

"Sakura hurry up and come here so I can do your hair. We have to be in the Hokage's office in an hour and you are still in your pajamas for goodness sake!" Saikuya watched as her daughter happily came skipping into the living room with a bow and hairbrush in hand. Sakura positioned herself in front of her mother and handed her the bow and hairbrush.

Saikuya sighed as she began to brush all of the tangles out of Sakura's pink tresses. Her daughter did not complain about the brush tugging on her hair, only because she was hard headed. Instead, her daughter began to talk about how she was so excited that she was going to get to see Gaara again.

Saikuya knew that her daughter did not understand the situation at all. For one Gaara was not a friendly little boy like Sakura assumed. He had a demon inside of him that was capable of lashing out and killing an entire village. Saikuya hoped that the Kazekage would be able to straighten this whole mess out as the Hokage had suggested.

_Flashback_

"_Saikuya I am going to try and explain this as easily as I can. When the tailed beasts were sealed inside of there host it was known information that they would of course look for a mate throughout there host's life, the reason for that is unknown as of now. Shukaku, which is Gaara's tailed beast, has marked and bounded your daughter to him for eternity. Of course, they are both far too young to complete the mating ritual at all so of course everything will be on hold until Sakura's sixteenth birthday. Do you have any questions yet Saikuya?" Sarutobi was trying his best to keep the situation into simpler terms for Saikuya. Judging by the distraught look on her face, she knew exactly what the situation now meant for her daughter._

"_So what you're telling me Hokage-sama is that Sakura is now the mate of a demon?" Saikuya was looking at the floor and speaking in a whisper that Sarutobi had to strain to hear what she was saying._

_Sarutobi sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "That is what I am saying though the Kazekage may have a simple solution for this problem otherwise Sakura will most likely be leaving for Suna."_

_Saikuya began to feel fresh tears coming from her eyes. "Would I be able to l-live in Suna with her?" _

_Sarutobi put a hand to his chin as if he had to think deeply about the question and then he slowly nodded his head._

_Saikuya smiled._

_End Flashback_

'_I really hope that the Kazekage has another solution. I really do not want to leave Konoha; I have too many memories here.'_

Saikuya finished tying the read bow in Sakura's hair and turned her around to fix her bangs. "Alright now we're all ready to go and meet with Hokage-sama and Kazekage-sama."

Sakura smiled towards her mom. "You forgot about Gaara, we get to see him too!"

Saikuya did not say anything but simply began to lead Sakura towards the Hokage's office.

----------------------------

"Kazekage-sama I did not expect you to come here personally with Gaara-san." Sarutobi had offered the Kazekage and Gaara a seat that they both accepted.

"Well when I heard Gaara decided to mark someone I figured I would meet with the girl myself. Speaking of which, where is the girl and her mother?"

"They should both be here in a moment." Sarutobi finished his sentence just as a knock came on the door. "Come in."

The door opened to reveal two pink haired females one with striking sky blue eyes, the other with beautiful jade eyes. Both bowed to the Hokage then again to the Kazekage.

"Ah, Saikuya, Sakura have a seat please and we can begin." Upon hearing, Sarutobi's words Sakura ran towards the fours seats and sat in the one next to Gaara leaving a nervous Saikuya to sit next to the Kazekage. "Now Kazekage-sama this is the young girl that your son has 'marked', her name is Sakura and her mother Saikuya." The Hokage folded his arms as he watched Sakura squeak out a 'hello' and Saikuya just nervously smile.

The Kazekage examined Sakura as if she was some sort of animal in a cage. He then looked at Gaara and nodded his head.

Sakura was beginning to worry about the whole situation. She was not too sure, why everyone had made a big deal over a little tattoo. Nevertheless, to top it all of they had to bring the Kazekage all the way from Suna. Sakura suddenly started to feel nauseas about everything concerning Gaara.

Sarutobi smiled when he saw that the Kazekage was giving Gaara approval for Sakura.

"I'm very impressed with this young girl. I can tell she has the ability for an excellent medic Nin." The Kazekage was not talking to anyone in the room but Sarutobi now.

Sarutobi knew that the Kazekage was not going to allow Sakura to continue her journey in becoming a kunoichi. He was clearly looking for an alternative for her.

"Yes, I believe with the right amount of training Sakura would make an excellent medic Nin. However, I must say she is also very capable of becoming a combat Nin also. In fact I have the perfect mentor in mind for her." Sarutobi was thinking of a certain blonde-haired student of his.

The Kazekage furrowed his brow when Sarutobi mentioned the girl becoming a combat ninja as well as a medic Nin. "I do believe that she would be much more suited helping Suna's medical department rather then wasting her time with missions outside of Suna." The Kazekage's voice was stern and slightly vicious, signaling to Sarutobi that there would be no more discussion on the topic. "But I would like to look into this mentor that you had mentioned. I would like to request this person's company in Suna so that they may properly train this girl."

Sarutobi merely nodded at the request, although he knew it would be hell to find the Tsunade. She could be anywhere in the Fire country. Knowing her though she would be off gambling or in a bar drinking her precious sake. "Of course I will make sure she is at the gates tomorrow morning ready to leave with you."

It was then that Saikuya decided to speak up. "Wait a moment, Hokage-sama you said that there might be a way for Sakura to stay here in Konoha but it sounds like it was already decided that she is going I thought that Kazekage-sama would come up with a solution." Saikuya was now yelling, while tears were streaming done her distraught face.

Sakura, who had never seen in her mother in such a state, began to panic. She did not want to leave Konoha. She had all of her friends here and she promised Sasuke she would visit him in his new home all the time. She was about to cry but suddenly stopped herself. She had to be strong for her mom and herself. Therefore, she decided to remain silent.

"I know Saikuya but it seems that you and Sakura will be moving to Suna. In fact, you need to go home a pack right now. You will need to be at the gates tomorrow morning at five a.m. in the morning. I am truly sorry about this and for it being such short notice."

Saikuya was speechless. She could not say anything at all. She wanted to scream profanities at the Hokage but simply could not find her voice. Feeling beaten and defeated, she nodded her head, stood and bowed to both the Hokage and the Kazekage. She grabbed Sakura's hand and left the room.

------------------------------------------------------

Sakura was silent as they walked home, listening to her mother's cries. Soon they had past the market where plenty of people were busying mingling with one another. Soon Sakura saw the house that Sasuke was now living at with a newly married couple. She remembered seeing him in the hospital. He had asked Sakura's mom if he could stay with them but her mother had told them that it would not be able to work.

_Flashback_

_Sakura nervously walked into Sasuke's hospital room. She had no idea what to say to Sasuke. She had never lost her whole family, sure, she had lost her dad but she did not remember too much about it. Her mother was already beside Sasuke cleaning up the dried blood on him. She turned around and saw Sakura standing there; she gave her daughter a comforting smile and called for her to come closer._

"_H-hey Sasuke-kun, I wanted to come and see how your doing." Sakura was fidgeting with something behind her as Sasuke looked up to see her._

_Sasuke did not smile nor did he really care that Sakura had even came. He just wanted to be alone and think about why his aniki would do such a horrible thing. He had thought about it for the few days that he had been in the hospital and he finally came up with a logical solution. He had finally decided that he hated his brother in fact he no longer even considered that man his brother. He would become stronger and kill him and then he would rebuild the Uchiha clan. _

"_Sasuke-kun, I brought you some flowers. I know you probably don't like them but I picked out daisies at the Ino's parents' shop." _

_Sakura's voice had interrupted Sasuke's thoughts. As he looked towards her, he saw that she was placing the fragile flowers in a vase and poured water into them. _

_There was a knock on the door and Sakura's mother went to answer it. A nurse had come to ask about Sasuke's new living quarters since Saikuya said she could not take him. She turned to the two kids and told them she would be back shortly._

_Sasuke decided he should find out about the tattoo on Sakura's forehead. He figured that the information might prove to be useful in the future. "So Sakura what did they say about that thing on your forehead?"_

_Sakura's head snapped in the direction of Sasuke's voice and simply stared at him. Finally realizing that he was waiting on an answer, she gave the only answer she knew. "I do not know right now Sasuke-kun."_

"_Stop calling me that from now on, alright." Sasuke glared at Sakura coldly. He hated hearing that from someone other than his mother and now that his mother was not able to call him that he did not want someone else calling him that either._

"_Sasuke, I'm sorry that my mom said you could not stay with us. I bet the family you do live with will be the greatest fam-"_

"_Shut up now, you're not really sorry. How could you be? You have no idea what it is like to feel this kind of pain. It does not matter who I stay with because as soon as I can I am going back to the Uchiha Estate." Sasuke glared at Sakura as she held back her tears._

"_Sasuke even if you do hate me I still promise to be your friend and to visit you all the time."_

_Sakura's only answer was a simple "Hn"_

_End Flashback_

Sakura wondered if she should go and tell Sasuke that she was leaving Konoha and would not be coming back. Then she remembered every single time she went to visit him. She would come and ask if he would like to study or maybe practice kunai throwing but he would always say she was too weak. She would always leave with restrained tears in her eyes. Therefore, she continued to walk right past his house without asking her mother if she could say good-bye.

Saikuya had finally been able to control her sobs. However, as she watched the people around them point and stare at Sakura she wanted nothing more but to break down in tears again. This is not what she wanted for her only child. She wanted Sakura to grow up happy and carefree. Now as she heard the cruel whispers about Sakura she knew that Sakura would never get the life that she had dreamed for her.

They finally got to their house and both began to pack there things. Once everything that they needed was in their individual packs Saikuya put Sakura to bed and kissed her goodnight.

She walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table as she poured herself a cup of hot tea. She heard something crash in the living room and went to see if Sakura had woken up. She walked into the living room and saw a masked shinobi. She saw the forehead protector and saw that it was not a shinobi from Konoha. She immediately began to run for Sakura's room, hoping to get herself and Sakura out of the house. As soon as she got to the hallway, the ninja pulled her backwards and put a kunai to her throat. "Scream and I will kill your precious daughter, understand?"

Saikuya slowly nodded her head.

"Now I need to know where exactly Uchiha Sasuke is. I heard that he was the only one that survived the massacre."

Saikuya began to cry and she was struggling in the man's arms. "I do not know he is under the Hokage's protection." Saikuya was lying to buy some time. Soon she felt to the cool metal of the kunai leave her neck. She breathed out a sigh of relieve. Soon she felt an immense pain travel through her body as the man stabbed her in the back and with a poof, he disappeared.

'_I have to no-notify the Hokage.'_

Saikuya concentrated all her energy on hiding the sleeping Sakura in the closet. "I love you and never give up, Sakura."

Saikuya then used her remaining energy to make her way into the Konoha streets and she miraculously made it to the Hokage's office. She fell to the ground and Sarutobi ran to her side. "Saikuya what happened to you?"

"Some m-man came looking for Sasuke, make sure he is safe. I hid S-sakura at the house."

"Who was the man Saikuya?"

"I don't know." Saikuya know began to breath harder and she knew she would die soon. No medic could save her at this point. "Tell S-sakura that I l-love he…" Saikuya coughed up a bit off blood and then closed her eyes for the last time in Sarutobi's lap.

Sarutobi ordered someone to clean Saikuya's body and get her ready for a funeral the next day. He then sent Anbu to find the mysterious shinobi that had committed this heinous crime. He sent Iruka to go and retrieve Sakura. He would have to postpone Sakura's leaving to Suna so she would be able to attend her mother's funeral. His heart mourned for the poor girl because from here on out it would only get worse for her.

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Next Day

Sakura stood in her black dress as she cried for her mother. She was not told how her mother died exactly only that a shinobi had killed her. Sakura could not believe that she had lost her mother. She felt like it was her fault. If she had been stronger, she could have saved her mother. However, because she was weak she had caused her mother's death.

Sakura went through the funeral in a daze. Soon it was over and many people came up to Sakura with pity and sympathy in their words.

Soon it was over and Sakura was lead towards the Hokage's office. She barely listened to the Hokage. She heard bits and pieces of what he was saying. She heard that the she would be living with the Kazekage and his three children. She also heard something along of the lines of her getting a mentor to teach her about medicine.

Without a knock, the door opened to reveal two women. One of them with blonde hair styled in simple pigtails. The other woman had short black hair and carrying a small pig in her arms.

"So Sarutobi-_sensie_ what is so important that I had to give up my poker game and sake for?" The blonde-haired woman had sarcasm in her voice when she uttered the word 'sensie'.

"I have a mission for you Tsunade, you are to go to Suna with the Kazekage and train little Sakura here. She will become an apprentice of sorts to you."

Tsunade simply raised an eyebrow at the Hokage. "Well is that so, hmm, well I will need to meet this Sakura to see if she is worthy enough to be my 'apprentice'." As Tsunade finished her sentence, Sarutobi motioned to Sakura who was hiding behind the Kazekage's legs.

Tsunade looked down at the girl and was intrigued. She wanted to know about this little girl. She decided that she was going to accept the mission. Besides, it was not like her and Shizune had anything better to do. "I think I'll accept this mission. Oh and Sakura-san you'll have to work real hard ok."

Sakura looked up at Tsunade and nodded her head.

"When will we be leaving then Sarutobi?" Before Sarutobi could answer, the Kazekage had answered for him.

"We will be leaving as soon as the sun comes up tomorrow."

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A/N: Ok I don't know the Kazekage's name so if someone does know it would be much appreciated. I hope this chapter is up to everyone's standards. So next chapter I will be skipping to the chunin exams. Everything that happened in that time span will be explained. So everyone I wanted to thank you for the support and you guys really are the reason I haven't deleted this story yet. I tried to make this a bit longer than the others chapters. Review please and Thank you!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: All right so you guys can thank my writer's block for updating this story so quickly. I was going to update my other story 'Stained Cherry Blossom' or 'Why Do I Love You?' but I couldn't think of what I was going to do in the chapters so I gave up and turned back to this story. I really do want to thank all of my reviewers and this chapter is dedicated to everyone who has left a review. As for the rest of you…pffht. Nah I am joking I am just happy you are reading the story!

**Important: **This chapter has skipped ahead to right before the chunin exams.

**To reviewers:**

**yukibozu: Thanks for pointing out my spelling mistakes ; I did not realize I had made the mistakes. It is hard to go over your own work and get every detail but I do truly thank you. Now I just have to go back and correct them. Procrastinates**

**BlackKanji: Thank you so very much! I tried looking on Google to see about his name but I could not find anything. Thanks now the Kazekage can sort of have a name for his remaining chapters.**

**DarkInu418: Yes Kankuro and Temari will be nice to Sakura; she will be like a little sister to them. About the Gaara thing…well you will just have to read to find out. I do not want to spoil anything.**

**SavageGardenFan: Yes, sadly I was thinking of deleting my whole account but when I got a whole flock of reviews for this story I got inspired to keep writing for you people! **

**mahalo4ursupport: Yes Sasuke will find out that Sakura's mother died pretty much because of him. However, Sasuke will not make another appearance for another two chapters.**

**To all others thank you for reviewing you do not know how much it encourages me to write more chapters!**

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto Gaara and Sakura would be together…

Chapter 4

"Come on Sakura, put some muscle into it! You call that a punch? My dead grandma could punch better than that and she wasn't even a shinobi." Tsunade smiled as her pink-haired apprentice began concentrating on the ten-ton boulder in front of her. She watched as the girl focused the precise amount of chakra into her fist and smashed the boulder into dust. Tsunade gave one clap with her hands signaling the end of their training session.

Sakura gave a satisfied sigh as she wiped her skirt of any excess dirt. "I still will never know how you keep all of this combat training from Kazekage-sama." Sakura began to take out her medical scrolls as she spoke to her mentor.

"Well, I have my ways, put those scrolls up! We are not about to go over any medical information what so ever." Tsunade looked at Sakura sternly before the twelve-year-old put the scrolls back into her pouch. "Now then let's just stay here for awhile, besides it isn't like you have to be home right now. Gaara won't be back from his mission till later tonight." Tsunade offered Sakura a sincere smile, which she returned.

"Tsunade-shishou, do you think Gaara-kun is a monster?" Sakura was now fiddling with her pink tresses.

Tsunade sat silent for a few moments staring out into the open dessert. "I can not answer that, Sakura I do not know Gaara like you do. In fact, I do not think anyone knows the Gaara that you have come accustomed to, not even Temari and Kankuro. You may be the only person who sees that he is actually human, while everyone else sees him as a cold-blooded kill-"

"Don't talk about Gaara-kun like that, he has reasons why he does the things he does. He would not kill someone for no reason!" Sakura hated it when her teacher would talk about Gaara in such a horrid way. She remembered when she first came to Suna; Gaara had been the only one who had helped her adjust.

Sakura remembered being truly sad about someone important to her when she had first came to Suna but she could never remember who that person was. In fact, she could not remember anything prior to her meeting Tsunade. "He was only that cared about me when I came here."

Tsunade sighed as she prepared herself for the next few questions Sakura would utter.

"Tsunade-shishou, I know I have asked before, but could you tell me about my life before I came to Suna? I mean you do not have to go into great detail just things like the name of my home village, about my parents, and who my friends were." Sakura desperately wanted to know all of those things and she berated herself for letting go of such precious memories. She remembered when she had let all of the memories from her past slip through her fingers.

_Flashback_

_Sakura was unpacking her things crying silently to herself as she did so. She pulled out a few pictures that she planned to keep in her diary so she would never forget about her homeland. She began to look through the photos. However, a mass of sand pulled the photos out of Sakura's grasp. Sakura hurriedly turned to see Gaara walk into her room. _

_She watched as he took the pictures from his sand. He looked through all of them and when he was done, he started to rip all of them in to tiny shreds. Sakura ran and tried to stop him screaming and crying as she did so. She began to beg him to stop. "Gaara please stop those are my only memories of them, I love them."_

_Gaara merely looked at her. He gently brought Sakura's face to meet his gaze. "Sakura, forget them, forget everything you ever believed in. Sakura, remember only me, believe in only me, and love only me." Sakura began to cry even harder, and then she found herself wrapped in a warm embrace as Gaara began to murmur the same thing repeatedly in her ear. "Remember only me, believe in only me, and love only me." Sakura found herself nodding her head as she continued to cry into Gaara's chest. _

_End Flashback_

Sakura heard Tsunade began to make up some excuse as to why she was not aloud to say anything.

'_That's absurd, she could tell me if she wanted to, it's just like her teaching me combat skills. The Suna counsel does not want me to learn about combat but Tsunade-shishou teaches me anyhow.'_

Sakura decided to let her teacher ramble as she began to loose herself in her thoughts. She remembered nodding her head in Gaara's chest that night. She remembered before she fell asleep that night a bunch of fading people had invaded her dreams. She wondered why Gaara had wanted her to forget. The only thing she could remember about her old life was her room and that was only because Gaara was there giving her the tattoo.

At the thought of the tattoo, Sakura unconsciously raised her hand to graze her fingertips over the 'love' kanji. Sakura soon forgot of her musing due to the sounds of Shizune's voice. "Tsunade-sama, Sakura-san, you have to hurry back to the village Gaara and the others are back."

At the mention of Gaara, Sakura bolted towards the village.

Sakura made it back to the village much faster than the other two women who were still a good fifteen minutes from the village. Sakura saw Temari and Kankuro heading back to the house that they all lived in.

She turned around to find Gaara sitting on a bench with his eyes closed. She knew he was waiting for her, he always does. They had unintentionally made it a habit to go eat together after he came back from a mission. Sakura usually picked where they would go and today she was in the mood for ramen. For some reason when she ate ramen, she always thought of a person that she could not remember.

As Sakura neared the bench, she took a seat next to Gaara. Gaara opened one of his eyes and looked at her. Without saying a word, he leaned towards her and kissed her forehead where her kanji was. Sakura smiled as he did so and when he backed away from her, she returned his gesture. Gaara got up and grabbed Sakura's hand entwining their fingers as he did so.

Gaara let Sakura lead the way to ever it was she wanted to eat. Once they got to the ramen stand, they both ordered and Sakura began to ask about his mission. "So Gaara, did the mission go as easily as expected?"

"Yes, it went perfectly."

"That's great; I wish I could go on a mission with Temari, Kankuro, and you one day. Gaara do you think you could ever take me with you on a mission?" Sakura smiled innocently as Gaara merely looked at her.

"Actually you will be coming on a mission with us in a few weeks." Gaara made sure to look directly into Sakura's eyes as he stated his sentence. He knew that her eyes would light up in delight and she would smile that beautiful smile of hers. He got a warm feeling in his chest whenever Sakura was happy and he never wanted that feeling to leave. Therefore, he took every chance he had to make her happy.

Just as Gaara had predicted Sakura's jade eyes immediately lit up and she smiled. "Really Gaara, will I be doing anything to help with the mission?"

"Yes, you will be the medic Nin for this mission."

Sakura was just about to ask another question about her first mission when Gaara stopped her. "Sakura, I'd rather talk about this some other time, please do not ask anymore questions for now."

Sakura smiled and nodded her head.

'_**Look how happy our little blossom is.'**_

'_Hn'_

'_**We only have four more years to wait.'**_

'_We're taking her back to that village, what if it triggers something and she remembers?'_

'_**Yea so what if she does, it won't change anything, she'll still be ours.'**_

'_Hn'_

Gaara did not continue his conversation with Shukaku any further. He would deal with the demon later that night after he made sure that Sakura was asleep.

They got their food and began to eat in a comfortable silence. Sakura knew that Gaara did not like to talk that much. Therefore, she would try to keep her conversations to a minimum, which was hard considering her huge desire to talk every minute of every day. Once they had both finished, their ramen Sakura began to ask a server what they owed them for the food. "Excuse me, but we are ready for the check now." The young girl turned towards Sakura, her eyes widened for a fraction of a second, but Sakura did not notice it. "Um, uh you can consider paid for."

Sakura had tried to pay for it anyway but she soon realized why they were allowing them to leave without paying….Gaara. She did not understand why people were so scared of him. He was always so nice to her.

"Sakura, let's go home now." Gaara said as he waited for Sakura to catch up with him. When she did Gaara once again took her hand in his.

Sakura looked up to the now descending sun. She had always wanted to watch the sunset in Suna since she had first came to the village. However, for some odd reason she had never gotten the chance to. Sakura was about to voice her desire to watch the sun set but before she could, an idea struck her. "Hey Gaara, you know my birthday is coming up in a few days."

Gaara nodded his head telling her to continue.

"Well, I was wondering thinking about what you could do for me." Sakura paused waiting for Gaara to say something.

Gaara looked towards her oddly. She had never personally asked for a gift before, she had always said that whatever he got would be special because it came from him. "Alright then what would you like me to buy for you?" Gaara was expecting her to say some sort of jewelry or hairpin that would cost a small fortune but was surprised at her answer.

"It's not what you can buy for me it is what you can do with me. I want you to take me one afternoon to a nice peaceful spot where we can sit and watch the sunset and maybe stay for a couple of hours and see the stars come out." Sakura thought for sure that Gaara would tell her that he would get Temari to take her.

"Hn, alright if that is what you want we'll go on your birthday." Once again, Gaara watched as Sakura's eyes lighted up and a smile adorned her face.

"Oh, thank you Gaara so very much, I can't wait!" For the rest of the walk Sakura hummed a quiet little tune with a smile still imprinted on her face.

When they arrived at the house, Sakura immediately ran to tell Temari of all the things that had been going on since they had left on their mission, leaving Gaara with Kankuro in the living room. Kankuro shifted uncomfortably as Gaara took a seat in the armchair opposite of the couch. "So did you and Sakura have a nice dinner together?" Kankuro was merely trying to create a conversation, even if though it would be more awkward than the silence.

Gaara answered with his usual 'Hn' but inwardly regretted it. He remembered Sakura asking him to try to build a better relationship with his siblings and he had promised he would. "Did you allow a medic to heal your injuries?"

Kankuro was astonished that Gaara had even known that during the mission he had been injured. Although, Kankuro did not go and get his wounds treated, he had been too tired and he figured he could get Sakura to look at his shoulder later. "No, I didn't stop by the hospital; I guess I was so tired that I forgot to."

"When Sakura comes back I'll tell her to take a look." Gaara saw the shocked expression on his brother's face and felt a tinge of anger flicker inside of him. Even his own family believed him to be a complete monster that only cared for his own self. The only person who actually saw that he was human was Sakura.

'_Sakura…'_

As soon as another awkward silence had settled in between the two brothers, Temari and Sakura came bounding into the room.

"Sakura look at Kankuro and heal whatever it is that is bothering him." Gaara had immediately told Sakura to look at Kankuro so he did not have to sit through a giddy conversation between Sakura and his elder sister.

Sakura smiled, nodded, and walked towards Kankuro asking him what was bothering him. He managed to say he was feeling immense pain in his shoulder.

"Okay Kankurou-san, I'm going to need you to take you shirt off for me." Sakura was going into full medic mode.

Kankuro looked to Gaara first, as if mentally asking if it was okay. When he saw, Gaara make no move to object he obliged with Sakura's request.

Sakura almost gasped at what she saw when Kankuro had removed his shirt. She was staring at his shoulder and immediately knew he had dislocated his shoulder. The shoulder was severely swollen and was covered in blue, black, and yellow bruises. Sakura decided she would have to heal the bruising first with her chakra. She placed her hands on his shoulder and worked to heal the bruising and to bring down the swelling. Once that was done, Sakura began the procedure that Tsunade had taught her.

Sakura finished Kankuro's sling and instructed him to apply ice to it about three to four times a day. Once Kankuro and Temari went up the stairs, Sakura stifled a yawn with her hand.

"Your tired, go to sleep."

Sakura looked over to Gaara. She nodded and began her ways up the stairs, while yawning once more. She knew that Gaara would continue to sit in the living room for a few hours before coming up and checking on her. He always liked to make sure that she was sleeping peacefully. Sakura hated the fact that Gaara did not get to enjoy the luxury of sleeping and having a dream, heck even having a nightmare. Sakura usually never had nightmares but the few times she did have them Gaara was always there to comfort her.

_Flashback_

_Sakura was watching as a shinobi was saying something to a woman. The woman was crying and when the shinobi removed the threatening kunai away from her neck, she breathed a sigh of relief. Sakura saw as the shinobi rose the weapon once more behind the woman's back._

_Sakura wanted to scream to the woman. To warn her that he was behind her about to stab her. She found that she could not speak nor move. She could only watch as the woman was stabbed by the shinobi. Once the shinobi had left, Sakura was able to move her legs to walk up to the struggling woman. Sakura looked at the woman's sky blue eyes that were filled with tears. Sakura gasped at the woman's hair color._

_Her hair was pink._

_Sakura heard the woman began to say her name repeatedly. Sakura wanted to let the woman now that she was right beside her._

"_Sakura, wake up." _

_Sakura heard Gaara's voice and the woman began to fade. Sakura opened her eyes. She felt something wet on her face. She raised her fingers to feel her tear stained cheeks. She had been crying. Why was she crying for that woman that she had not even known?_

_Gaara took her into his embrace and began to stroke her hair. He began to whisper comforting words to her. _

_End Flashback_

He had been there that night to comfort her about her nightmare. She wanted to be able to comfort him, just as he was always there to comfort her.

Sakura crawled into her bed and was soon asleep in her own little dream world.

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A/N: All right, I feel like this chapter is confusing so if you have any questions please ask me and I will be happy to answer them. I know that there more grammar and spelling mistakes than usual. However, it is 1:30 in the morning and if I wait to fix them then I would not be able to post this for a few more days.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Okay…so I realize that all of you are probably pissed off…I'm sorry! I don't really know what happened. I would start and never finish the chapter. But the good thing is that I'm working on it again…right? Anyhow I do need to clear something up. In the last chapter I had a reviewer asking if Gaara had hypnotized Sakura. Well technically he didn't but he did use a special jutsu that Shukaku provided that would make her forget her life in Konoha so that she would be completely loyal to Gaara.

Chapter 5

Sakura was jumping from tree branch to tree branch as she began to think over her first mission ever. She was told by Gaara that they would be traveling to an ally country called Konoha. The name of the village seemed vaguely familiar but seeing as she had never been there she shrugged it off. Temari and Kankuro were traveling along with them to compete in a competition of some sort. Gaara had promised to explain everything as soon as they arrived. He had informed her that she would only be there to heal any injuries that occurred during the time, he obviously did not trust any other medics to heal him.

Not knowing that everyone else had stopped, Sakura jumped to the next tree branch crashing into the back of Gaara. He immediately turned around to pick her up from possibly falling. "Sakura, you must be careful."

Sakura blushed furiously out of utter embarrassment. "I'm sorry Gaara-kun. I promise to be more careful from now on."

Gaara sighed as he picked her up bridal style and descended from the tree branch to land on the ground. Sakura noticed that Temari and Kankuro had already begun setting up camp while Gaara brought Sakura over to a shaded area. "Gaara shouldn't we be helping them with the bed rolls or the fire?"

"No, I will not risk you getting overheated in this forest." Gaara began to let his sand wander away from his gourd as he watched it.

"But Gaara I need to do something. I mean I do not think my healing abilities will be needed for a long time and I feel bad for just sitting around while the others work." Sakura was simply trying to be reasonable about this. Sometimes Gaara could be really stubborn about certain issues and she was beginning to see that this would be another one.

"No." Gaara went on making designs with his sand; most of the shapes were of Sakura's namesake, cherry blossoms.

"Fine. I just really hate it when you treat me like a fragile little doll! I am actually capable of doing more than just healing." Sakura rarely got agitated with Gaara's behavior but as of this moment she was thoroughly upset.

Gaara was a bit surprised by her outburst and he was slightly amused that she had gathered the courage to stand up against him. None the less she still had to suffer the repercussions of her actions.

"Sakura, follow me." Gaara stood up from his spot beside her to begin walking towards the woods. When he did not sense Sakura following him he merely manipulated his sand to carry her. "Hey! Gaara! Make your sand put me down!" Gaara chose not to acknowledge her statements.

Sakura huffed as her wrists were firmly held by the grainy sand. She knew that Gaara was mad at her but she did not know the full extent of it. Honestly she could not understand why he refused to let her do anything except for her healing work. She really hoped that Gaara was not going to give her a punishment. The last time he had done that Sakura was actually a bit scared of him, though if she were to be honest she had been terrified.

_Flashback_

"_Sakura-san, may I take you to lunch as a token of my appreciation for healing me?" A boy about her age was currently staring at her admirably. He had come in with a sprained ankle and Sakura had been able to fix him up, saving him from having to deal with a cast._

"_That would be wonderful Yasuto! I just need to let Tsunade-shishou know that I'll be leaving earlier than expected." Sakura smiled towards Yasuto before turning down the hallway to alert her mentor of her departure._

_When Sakura returned Yasuto was no where to be found and instead Gaara was in his place shaking. "Gaara-kun? Are you okay?" Sakura went towards him placing her hand on his shoulder._

"_Sa-ku-ra…" Gaara did not finish his sentence he merely turned around to face the pink haired medic. _

_Sakura gasped as she noticed a bit of blood staining Gaara's hands and clothes. "G-Gaara-kin…did you do something to Yasuto-san?"_

"_You shouldn't have accepted his invitation, nor should he have extended that invitation. All of Suna knows who you belong to!" Gaara was yelling know and conveniently all the other medics had left, leaving Sakura alone with Gaara._

_Sakura had never seen Gaara acting like this, sure she had seen him get angry and hurt someone but he had never seemed…bloodthirsty. "Gaara, please tell me that you didn't hurt Yasuto…he didn't mean anything by the invitation…and I'm sorry for accepting…I just thought that it was a friendly invitation." _

_Gaara merely laughed. "He is…alive. He was punished for the crime that he committed against me and sadly you have to be punished as well Sakura."_

_Sakura began slowly backing away from the enraged boy. "Gaara you're scaring me."_

_Gaara ignored her statement and backed her up to the wall pinning her wrists above her head. He sniffed her tattoo and licked it; suddenly sand began to open it up once again. Sakura was screaming in pain but was silenced by Gaara's mouth. The kiss was forceful and he used his tongue to open her mouth. Sakura was in too much pain to respond or struggle. As the intrusion continued Gaara began to nip her neck making very noticeable marks to ensure that she would remember this._

_Just as suddenly as the pain came it was gone. Gaara had released her causing her to slump to the floor. "Gaara.."_

"_Never do that again…I can not always control myself when the demon is angered." Gaara was looking out the window of the hospital as he was gathering control of Shukaku._

"_What are you talking about Gaara? I do not understand what demon you're talking about." Sakura was regaining her posture as she was standing up. _

"_Do not worry about that. Let's go home." Gaara reached and grasped Sakura's hand as he gave her a very chaste kiss on the lips._

_End Flashback_

After that day Gaara had been even more careful around her. She continued to wonder about the demon that he mentioned and if it had to do with some of the things Gaara did. Sakura was brought away from her thoughts as the sand set her down in a deserted clearing. Gaara had already sat by a tree looking straight at her.

"Sakura, I do not wish to harm you or punish you but you must promise me that you will stop questioning my judgment on things. I can not have you hurt…I would harm people if something happened to you. Do you want people to get hurt?" Gaara started twirling is sand around Sakura's petite form.

"No I don't want people to get hurt." Sakura avoided Gaara's eyes.

"Well then you must not argue with what I tell you."

"Gaara please tell me about that demon that you mentioned to me. Is it hurting you?" Sakura wanted answers.

"Hm, I suppose you could say that the demon is hurting me."

"What? How come no one is attempting to help you remove this demon?" Sakura was starting to get distressed at this new information.

"Sakura, it is not that simple. The sand will protect Shukaku and will not allow for anyone to remove him." Gaara walked towards Sakura pulling her into his arms. "Do not worry for me."

"But I will worry for you. Is it…Shukaku's fault that you do not sleep as well?" Sakura was desperately trying to grasp what it was that the demon did to Gaara.

"Yes, if I were to sleep he would have a much easier time taking control of my body." Gaara was pulling Sakura closer to him so that she was now sitting on his lap.

"So if he took control of your body what exactly would happen?" Sakura began to lay her head in the crook of Gaara's shoulder trying to fight back the tears she felt for him

"Everyone in my proximity would die…though you would most likely not be harmed."

"Why would I not be harmed?"

"You are Shukaku's chosen on." Gaara was hoping that he was not giving too much away to his sweet Sakura.

"What does that mean?" Sakura was confused now. Every time she got an answer it seemed two more popped in her mind.

"No more questions right now Sakura." Gaara realized that Sakura was about to protest so he merely silenced her by kissing her. Once Shukaku started to stir in his mind, Gaara immediately pulled back. "We will return to camp now."

Sakura was more than pleased to have gotten out of any sort of punishment but now she was filled with the burden of Gaara and this Shukaku demon that was inside of him. She cared too much for Gaara to treat him like a monster just because of what she had recently learned. In fact Sakura was now angered at all of the people who had treated Gaara with such malice.

"Sakura hurry up or else I will have to carry you."

Sakura ran to catch up with Gaara, when she caught up with him she grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. "Gaara-kun, I really hope that we can find a way to get Shukaku out of you. I promise to help anyway I can."

Gaara surprisingly squeezed her hand and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead where her tattoo was. Once they returned to camp it was beginning to get dark and the dinner was already waiting for them. Gaara watched to make sure that Sakura was eating a decent amount of the meal before making sure she was in her bed roll and falling asleep. For the rest of the night he watched his precious Sakura.

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The next morning they made it safely to Konoha and went straight to the Hokage's office. Sakura was excited as she looked around at the village. It was so different compared to her current home, Suna. All of the citizens looked cheerful which was a complete contrast compared to the disdainful attitudes of the Suna citizens.

Upon reaching the Hokage's office Gaara turned to Sakura. "Sakura you must wait outside. Sit on the bench and do not move or talk to anyone. Do you understand?"

Sakura just nodded, happy to actually be able to look around the village and watch the people mingle. She watched as the three sand shinobi walked into the building and began humming a tune. She felt a nice cool breeze and it blew her hair in a refreshing way.

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"Gaara-san, it's nice to see that you and your siblings have arrived for the chunin exams safely. But I must inquire on the whereabouts of Sakura." Sarutobi had eyed the group trying to find a glimpse of pink hair but came up with no luck. He was hoping that Sakura had been allowed to come. He had heard of her erased memory by the demon's jutsu but he had been hoping that her seeing Konoha would restore some of her memories.

"She is here. I will not allow you to speak with her." Gaara folded his arms showing in a silent way that he would not be budged on this issue.

"Very well. The chunin exams are to begin tomorrow at the Academy at nine in the morning and I have arranged for you to stay in the Icimaru Hotel." Sarutobi sighed as Gaara nodded and left with his siblings following behind. _'I hope Sakura can help that boy'_

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Sakura continued to enjoy the breeze and smell of the multiple aromas of various foods and scents that she could not distinguish. She was perfectly happy being alone while she waited for Gaara to return, unfortunately that was not going to be her luck. As Sakura continued to enjoy herself she was interrupted by a loud yell that oddly sounded like her name. In fact it was continuing, as she listened she heard her name getting louder and louder.

"SAKURA-CHAN! SAKURA-CHAN!"

Sakura looked towards the loud and obnoxious boy calling her name. _'How does he even know me? I've never even been to this village…'_

Sakura took a second to examine the boy who was calling her name. He was probably her same height with blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. He looked slightly familiar but Sakura could not seem to put her finger on it. As she continued her musings she did not notice when said boy sat beside her and started to yell at her.

"Sakura-chan! I've missed you so much! I had no idea where you had disappeared to after you stopped showing up at the academy! I was so upset about not having anybody to tell my wonderful 'knock knock' jokes to! Hey! Sakura-chan are you listening to me?" The blonde was in her face and was breathing heavily from not taking a breath while he was talking.

Sakura looked at this boy and had no idea what he was talking about. She decided to be polite. "Um, excuse me but who exactly are you and how do you know my name?"

The boy looked destroyed after Sakura's questions. "WHAT? Sakura-chan…you don't remember me at all? You've got to remember Naruto Uzamaki…I mean COME on! I'm going to be Hokage someday!" Naruto was looking at Sakura with hopeful eyes.

"I'm sorry, I really don't know who you are and I really shouldn't be talk-" Sakura was interrupted by a voice calling her name.

"Sakura."

She turned to see that Gaara had returned and he did not look happy about her visitor. "Gaara, I'm sorry this boy…I mean Naruto thought that he recognized me. It was a simple misunderstanding." Sakura got up from the bench and walk towards Gaara.

"It's not a misunderstanding! I went to the Academy with you!" Naruto was desperate for Sakura to remember him. She was his first friend at the Academy and he didn't want her to forget him.

"She has never lived in this village. She has always and will always be with me." Gaara turned Sakura around and directed her towards the hotel and away from this Naruto person.

'_**We must watch that one. He looks as if he might be a threat.'**_

'_He will not get close to her again.'_

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A/N: Okay so this chapter is done. Let me tell you that it took a lot for me to continue this when I had another idea for a new fic. But I knew I most definitely owed it to you guys to get a new chapter up and I'll be working on the next chapter this weekend. I apologize for the long absence.


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